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mlracing 1971 Skyline 2000GT Sedan (Hakosuka)


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Parts parts parts parts

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Slowly I pick away and find things to buy to fix up the car, this morning a package arrived with Nissan OEM brake lines (seems like clutch lines are the same), Nissan OEM shift boot and also a rubber boot to go under it all as mine didn't really have one.

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Immediately run into an interesting problem. There are two types of these rubber boots listed for Hakosuka depending on the year, I picked up the one which was suitable to my year but it seems like the shifter itself is in the wrong place. So that makes me wonder if the gearbox is not a Hako gearbox, could be from any number of Datsuns of similar vintage. Regardless I put the boot there and it's kind of just sitting as it is better than nothing.

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This waas what was there before..

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The shift boot looks cool! I just need to get a new chrome trim ring around the plastic where the shifter goes through. It looks like to get the boot to stay up it folds around that trim ring then the trim ring is screwed from below. I'm actually looking for a full new console as this one has cracks and various repairs etc out of it so not that great.

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/page-7#entry1661447

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ever since I've had the car the wipers have not been great/hardy work at all so my mission today was to remove the wiper motor because I've been told that S13 ones can fit with some small adjustments.

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I was a bit worried that when I pulled off this cowling there would be epic rust underneath but actually it's very tidy. The cover has a little surface rust under it and on the car side the rust looking marks are just dirt from the seal being damaged and letting muck in. I've ordered a new seal to replace it. Also, an enterprising fellow the previous owner must have been as the rubber cover you see there above the access hole is actually the sole of a shoe. It worked well so can't complain. I had to cut it up to get in there though so I've also ordered the correct replacement rubber part for when it goes back together.

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The wiper motor is actually inside the car behind the glove box. Initially I couldn't work out how I would get to it but ended up quite easy once I actually had a proper look at it. That's the thing with these cars, once you slow down and have a bit of a snoop around it's pretty straight forward how things go together. Because of this you can get quite a bit of satisfaction from just doing simple tasks because you can actually do them! Also fun note, the glove box is made of cardboard material. As you can see it's pretty weathered and you can get new ones but at this stage it's not super high on the priorities. I could unstaple it and even make my own one using the original as a template if I really wanted.

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Got em! The S13 one should be here sometime earlyish next week so it will be interesting to compare the parts and see what I need to change. I've read that the shaft that connects the linkage to the motor needs to be swapped and maybe some wiring needs to be tickled but as I've not actually seen a proper write up on the process (in English anyway) I figured I'd give it a shot and see what happens. Can't get any worse..

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/page-7#entry1661447

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OK so the 180SX wiper motor arrived and after closely inspecting it I can't see any easy way to make it work. None of the brackets line up (could make custom though) and the size is a bit different. So it's definitely not quite anywhere near bolt on. Even once I remove the mounting plate on the original one there's not really any way to easily attach it to the new one. Will have to think a bit more about the strategy.

I'm not sure if this will be the same for other countries or models but this one is from a 180SX Type X, so later model. Perhaps early model ones are more suitable. I'll continue to look out for something a bit older and around the same period before destroying this one.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So after my bust on the 180sx wiper motor I did a bit more research and found that majority of Datsuns of similar vintage shared (or 95%) the same wiper motor. There are some Honda ones you can use and various other things but mint16 on NZ Datsun had some 510 motors for sale so I contacted him and picked up two of those.

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You can see they're almost identical except the centre linkage shaft is longer on the Hakosuka one.

I took apart/cut the plugs off and ran some quick bench testing. With old cars it's always better to have more spares than less and it's a good thing too as one of the motors was not as good as the other. One was better than my current one though so I used the not so good one as a sacrifice so I could take it apart without concern and learn about how it all works.

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What I learnt initially was how much of a huge pain in the ass these bushes can be, and how much of an idiot they make you feel like.. that is until you work out/research how to get them to stay in their sprung houses. Then you feel like an even bigger idiot, albeit an enlightened one.

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This motor (which was the best of the lot) looked like it had some moisture inside it sometime in the past. Nonetheless it worked OK so after giving it a little clean up I re-used that part.

My main quandry was how to get the linkage shaft out and move it from the hako motor to the 510 one. I tried for ages to remove a washer on the outside to pull it out but then thought I'd see if it were possible to remove it from the inside, jackpot!

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Once this cover is removed you're faced with this. Pretty straight forward system.

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Simply remove that nut, couple of washers and the park position thing and a circlip then you can see this. Just lightly knock out the centre shaft and it pops out the other side. Easily enough to reverse the procedure with the hako shaft.

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Better look at the size difference. Bigger is better huehuehuehue

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Taking the advice of many, I also tried to lube up this linkage area. I couldn't for the life of me get the washer clip thing off the top but it was quite stiff to move around. I did clean it up and gunked it as best as possible and it definitely made it move more freely.

So after putting it all back together it's not a major improvement but definitely an improvement. Also for some reason the park no longer works despite wiring being the same, the motor just seems to run continually so perhaps something isn't quite exactly the same. Anyway, don't need that so I've not plugged that in for now.

I think definitely for a proper decent upgrade the Honda motor could be the way to go, but I learnt a bunch from this so I consider it a win win. I also learnt that I need a new battery and a trickle charger.

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It's sometimes the little things that make all the difference so I had a couple of bits I really needed to get fixed up. I purchased a new gear boot a while ago but the silver trim ring was smashed to pieces, the centre console is in poor condition with some pretty agricultural repairs so not entirely surprised.

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I have this one hook underneath which I've since been told isn't meant to be there, so I'm missing a bunch of clips that go underneath here which secure the shift boot onto the trim ring.

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Previously I purchased a replacement rubber boot for the shifter hole but I got the wrong one, now I have the correct one. After a bunch of prodding and poking, got it in there.

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So without all the clips in there the shift boot sits like this. Deciding whether to get some new woodgrain stickers but if I'm going to eventually replace the centre console anyway maybe there are better things to spend the money on.. really want to get a different shift knob though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not too much happened recently but for the sake of documentation I'll add it here. I picked up one of those C-Tek chargers which worked wonders on one of the old batteries I had in storage but no bueno on the Skyline one so I need to buy a new battery for that. No major, they're around I just haven't got to doing it. A couple of small rubber bits did arrive though the other week so got to installing them.

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Nice new rubber seal around the bottom of that cowling. Can see a bit of rust on either end of it as well as perhaps some quick repair done. These are common places for rust on Hakos so I suspect when the time comes I'll have to pull all that down and repair it properly. Repair parts are available for these areas.

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And these little rubber caps for the wipers were busted as you can see in the top picture. Replaced as per bottom picture.

Yep, thrilling stuff.. but it keeps the momentum going I guess.

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  • 3 months later...

So after about 5 months of not starting the car, it's time for it to wake up! I went about doing a few pre-start checks..

Oil? Black.

Brake Fluid? Half missing.

Clutch Fluid? Black.

Water in radiator? Yep.

OK good to go. With a new battery it cranked over really well, took a little while due to no gas in the float and mechanical pump but no worries. Little rough as you'd expect after not running for so long but once warmed up and the fuel was flowing it feels strong.

I didn't actually take it out as there is currently too much stuff around and I couldn't be bothered moving it.

Quick Instagram Vid - https://www.instagram.com/p/BJUYBs-B57z

Still have a few parts to come in the next container shipment like springs, brake discs etc. I'm not in a major rush so container is all good. The current springs are very uncaptive cutties hahaha. Rides pretty well considering though,

Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/page-8#entry1705879

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Finally had an afternoon free to do some work on the Skyline. I now have all the parts I was waiting on to work on the underbody and suspension parts. 

The reason it's taken so long as I wasn't super keen on taking bits apart then taking them apart again so my main hold up was getting OEM top hats so it's one less thing for it to fail on when it comes to inspection time. These finally arrived thanks to a Hako owner in Aus (Kevin, if you're in the scene you'll know him), total legend. 

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When it came in the car was on cut springs, common in old Japanese cars so no surprise but it was no good here. Picked up some ZOOM brand low springs in our last container and today's task was install the fronts. 

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After about an hour and two trips back home I managed to get one side done. Once I'd figured it out the other side took about 20 mins. 

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Yay for OEM.. but that top nut is not correct as it was the one used with the camber adjust top hats.. I'm guessing I can just keep it there as it's doing the job, just doesn't look super great. 

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Noticed this underneath too.. big dent on the sump which looks like it's cracked but it's not actually leaking. Perhaps someone repaired it in the past. 

However I have a feeling I'm missing some bits to complete the OEM top hat assembly as it still making clunking noises when I turn the wheel. The spring seats correctly but I'm not sure if just above that is meant to be something else before the top hat goes on above the upper spring seat. Also yeah the boots are goneburgers and maybe both the shocks are leaking.. yay!

Took it out for a hoon around the block to make sure it was working ok. Initially pulled hard to the left but once I went full lock to lock a few times it sorted out but still pulls a little to the left. I suspect I knocked something while I was under there. Not sure, probably worth going for alignment anyway

Short outside video - https://www.instagram.com/p/BQE6iE-AG8M/

Still, one thing less on my list. 

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Today sort of went ok.. I have since decided changing the brake pads in this car is a giant pain in the ass though. Plan today was to put the new discs on and new pads, sort of worked out. 

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Check out these badboys, furious stopping power!

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The main hurdle I had after working out how the hub and disc comes off is this.. the piston at the top could not be pushed in enough to allow for one of the new pads to go in while sliding over the disc. What I ended up doing was a bit naughty by using one new pad and one old pad (which still had a bunch of material on it anyway) so I could slide it over the disc. Perhaps I need to get the calipers rebuilt or look to upgrade to the MK63 which most people go to.  

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I've only got one side on there now as I ended up going out for a lunch longer than anticipated and got back late but it spins around and looks good. Once I get the other side on I'll take it out and see if they actually work.

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Made the mistake of opening the door while it was on an the jack.. Just a little bit of chassis flex in there.

Plus side, rear springs are captive as do I'm not going to change them for the other springs. Oh, and I found that the hub nut was finger tight, so that was a pretty good find. Thanks cotter pin for keeping me alive!

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Finished up the other side today and took it for a spin. I also took a couple extra pictures as a future reference potentially for anyone who needs this info as it took me a while to work this out.

So in order to remove the brake disc from the hub took a bit of trickery for the average Joe. I suppose if you had a press handy you'd use that but this way is just as easy. 

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First step of course is removing the bolts. Not too hard with an impact gun.

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Then bolt the hub to your wheel like shown above. Get a piece of wood or something similar and use it to hammer down on the brake disc. Moving around the disc eventually it should slip off the hub. I found this was quite an easy way to do it. Still took some decent hits but worked out good. One assumes you're replacing the discs at this point so risking damage on them isn't really a major concern.

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Then you end up with this, as you can see bearing and seal removal is not required but it's good to check them while you're there.

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Springs have settled a bit and actually look really good, about the same height as it was before. 

Still getting clunky noises and I'm fairly certain it is the springs as I can twist them by hand when the car is in the air but they are still captive. So perhaps just missing something more to push down on the top. The alignment is fully out of whack and almost certain it has positive camber now! It got quite wobbly on the motorway earlier at about 80-90kmh, so definitely need to take it to alignment shop. Although I'm not entirely sure how much adjustability will be available.

The ball joint looks like it is OK but when it's on a lift I could check it better.. or more likely someone who knows what to look for can check it better. Also, the new discs work very well. Might just be my optimism but feels like it pulls up a bit better.

 

Shit yarns: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/&page=8#comment-1773147

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  • 1 month later...

Quickly took the car down for an alignment this arvo to try and work out the pulling to the left situation. Well have a look at the "before" spec below.. haha!

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As they didn't have a listing for hako on the system I figured Kenmeri woud probably be closest. One of the front caster arms is bent which is causing some of that issue and the toe adjust arms are a bit shit but managed to get them back in line. There is a lot of rust underneath so I'll be loading up on repair panels in this next container! Went to stop in at the compliance place on the way back but it was closed :(

Also I think I need a GT-Kai badge.. everyone thinks it's a GT-R and are crushingly disappointed when I tell them otherwise haha

Oh, so result of alignment car definitely feels like it drives a bit straighter, still pulls to the side occasionally but I think that may be as a result of my spring situation. I received a few more bits for it from Kevin san (the aussie guy previously mentioned) so one day I'll get to putting those in and see if that makes the difference.

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  • 2 months later...

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It's been ages since I've really done anything towards this so I decided to start tearing down the L28 that I have. When I got this I knew the bottom end wasn't good but the head should be fine. Feels like there is some mild port work done and I'm told the cam is quite big. 

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I just wanted to put these on so I could make doort noises.

From memory there was a bearing problem but as it looks like it was sitting around for a while partially assembled before I got it I'll need to take it somewhere to be inventoried and see exactly which parts are there, which are not and what can be reused. Might be easier to just get another block and put the head on. 

Also managed to find some OEM castor arms and some urethane bushes to replace the bent one on the car which will come in the next container. Things are happening.. slowly.

Yarns: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/&page=8#comment-1816441

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  • 2 months later...

Woohoo best day at work ever, I found the Butaketsu Laurel-type indicators that I thought I'd lost forever. 

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Original

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Years of gunk and nastiness

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New

No more orange ! They don't fit super well because they're not made for this car but with enough trimming and fiddling I could get them to sit flush. They'll do for now.

Discuss: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/&page=8#comment-1816441

 

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  • 1 month later...

New caster arms have arrived with the most recent container shipment. So that was today's task.. pretty straight forward. 

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So the reason I needed to change the driver side one was.. well as you can see it's bent. Looking at the area surrounding the front mount I would say it's taken a punt. 

If I had more time I would've done an oil change too.. oh well maybe in another year I'll get around to that
 

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Had a really good day today on the Skyline. Decided I was going to get it out of the shop and go for a drive. Picked up a new battery and went out, the left side was still pulling badly and I knew it was something to do with the brakes so I pulled off the caliper and pads and had a look. Turns out it was a really simple answer.

These are two piston with two pads which are the same shape, one was worn down more than other and when I put them back in after doing the discs I put them in the wrong way so had the less worn one where the more worn one was. I think the calipers need rebuilding anyway as the pistons dont fully retract in so I couldn't put new pads in but for now the braking is back to it's normal uselessness and not pulling violently to the side.

I was also testing out the replaced caster arm and it's worked really well. The car doesn't track entirely straight but I feel once another alignment is done it will be really nice.

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Feels good to have it out and about again, oh and wired up the front fender indicators too. 

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Quiet afternoon at the shop so I thought hell with it, I'm gonna fit these triples on the car!

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I've ordered some new jets to bring it back down to OEM spec as at the moment they're way too huge (came off L28, big cam). Highly likely to run like garbage on the 2L but whatever, will look and sound sweet haha. Give me motivation to get an L28 working.

Obviously there are a few things to work out before we can try to start it.. such as fuel hoses, coolant hoses, throttle and so on so there's a bit to do.. but they look rad! Will have to polish up the trumpets for sure!

And annoyingly still the left brake caliper sticks. The whole brake system could use a going over so I will look into rebuilding the front calipers. 

PS: If you know of/have an L28 for sale holla at ya boi. Don't need most of the bits mainly just long block will be good. Needs to have been running, or still running.

Yarns: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49704-mlracings-hakosuka/&page=8#comment-1888368

 

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  • 1 month later...

OK since last post I have got the smaller jets now, just need to put them in. I also purcased the throttle cable mount and hooked that up.. but then suddenly the stunt went horribly wrong..

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As I was tightening the nuts to hold the cable in place it snapped off. The metal is so old and soft it had no chance. I was able to jimmy it up and make it work but I'll probably just go to a bike shop or similar and get a new cable made up. Can confirm it does work well and opens the throttle bodies :D

Also that white stopper thing seems to just dangle around and get in the way, perhaps not necessary for triple carbs.

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Scraping off shitty old gaskets is not fun.. 

There's still much to do.. get the fuel lines sorted and also block off a coolant hose which used to run to the single carb setup. Thinking I'll just get a bolt slightly too big and wind it in with a hose clamp on it too. OK so there's not actually that much to do.. just some small things that take ages. 

Oh, and regarding the sticky brake situation.. I've decided to just upgrade the brakes instead of fix it.. because that's what you're supposed to do right? I've also been toying up getting a new stainless exhaust manifold in because that rusty one looks nasty.

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